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Local faces felony charges of evading police

Nicholas Moran

Jeff Benziger

Managing editor

Updated:
Feb. 1, 2019, 10:22 a.m.

The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office will not file
kidnapping charges against Nicholas Moran, 24, of Ceres, who was involved in a
Sunday, Jan. 27 run from Ceres Police.

Prosecutors are proceeding to charge Moran with felony evading of
a police officer and driving on a suspended license.

Police had sought kidnapping charges because Moran had a female
passenger in his vehicle during the pursuit and ignored her pleas to pull over.

The incident began at approximately 10:40 p.m. when Ceres Police
Officer Christian Izquierdo spotted a silver Chevy S-10 pickup with no front
license plate and attempted to pull over Moran. When the officer activated his emergency
lights and siren, Moran accelerated and blew through stop signs and sped off in
an attempt to get away. The pursuit was initiated in the area of Bystrum and
Lombardo and ended when the pickup became disabled after going up the
embankment at the Seventh Street Bridge. Moran ran toward the river and was
later found hiding near some bushes after he had removed his clothing.

The passenger was upset and crying and told police that she had
begged Moran to stop multiple times during the pursuit but he refused.